In Praise of the Russian Left-Back

Tag: Yuri Zhirkov

Dinamo Moscow have been underwhelming in the Russian league this season sitting just a single spot outside the relegation places. This is to be expected after the financial and administrative mess the club found themselves in recent years.

Russia international player Yuri Zhirkov believes that the national team needs to improve on the international scene. He said that the team performance was really bad at the last World Cup and it is important that the federation work on that.

The former Dynamo Moscow player said that there is so much potential in Russia but it is sad that it is not exploited at the maximum. He believes that the Russian football federation should be investing more money in the development of grassroots football so as to help the national team in the long run.Continue reading “Russia needs to improve” →

Yuri Zhirkov is a major doubt for Russia’s upcoming World Cup game with Croatia. This is a quarter-final clash that could ultimately replace the show into the semifinals – a feat that they last achieved during the Euro 2008 competition. Zhirkov was a surprise candidate in the Russian national team squad, but the former Chelsea winger has certainly justified his inclusion by being able to perform admirably over the course of the tournament. He played a crucial role in the victory over Spain on penalties. It was one of the remarkable results for Russia, as they were facing backs against the wall for much of the 120 minutes before winning the game on penalties.

However, a major issue for Russia was the injury forZhirkov during the game against Spain. The Zenit St Petersburg defender appeared to suffer a serious injury which has now been diagnosed as an inflammation of a calf tendon. It is expected that this injury will take at least a couple of days in order to cure and this leaves Russia in a very troublesome position as fast World Cup qualification is concerned. With a lot of expectation arising surrounding the national team, Russia will be expected to perform even better than they have done over the course of the campaign. They now have to deal with the absence ofZhirkov. It is expected that the defender will be replaced by Vladimir Granat in the upcoming game against Croatia.Continue reading “Russia Likely to Be withoutYuri Zhirkov For Game against Croatia” →